i need some help and advice.

[kk52212]

i need some help i am a first time betta owner and ive had my fish for a few months and all of a sudden he is acting sort of strange. im worried.


well actualy it is my aunts and my fish and he stays here at her house because i cant have even a fish at my apartment and frankly i dont think she takes good enough care of him. it makes me kind of angry because i only see him every other week for like a day or two and while im here i take good care of him, but we have had a bunch of storms these past few weeks and i haven't seen him for about a month and now i come today to find him like this. what should i do he has never acted like this.

[bettaboy]

Where did you buy the betta?

And... define "sort of strange"

[kk52212]

well we actualy he was a present from her so she got him at a chinese resturant anx by sort of strange i meen he is not swimming very much and when i walk by and stop to look at him he comes to the glass and starts flaring for no reason. is that weird?

[Meatpuppet]

well bettas will flare for alot of things, heck mine flares at me just like yours until i feed him.
how big is the tank?
does it have a heater? (hope so they need 78 degrees constantly)
what are your water changing scedual? and Parameters? (tested with liquid test kit- good to have so you can monitor the water quality)

bettas will sit would sit on the bottom for a lot of thing. the most common problem is that owners dont have heaters for their bettas. as said they need warm water or else they become lethargic and prone to illnesses.

[kk52212]

well like i said i only see him for a few days at a time so when im here i change his water every day but i dont know if she does, and his bowl is a good size for just him but she wont buy a heater for him even though i keep telling her she needs to.and i didnt know about the water testing thing.

and he doesn't really sit on the bottom

[Meatpuppet]

ive gone through your same situation. somebody just doesnt want to take proper care of the fish. its hard convincing them the right thing to do.

if your changing water everyday he could be shocked. from just sitting in unclean water for two weeks and then suddenly be changed to new fresh water every day. does you Aunt know that about how and when to do water changes? 25% every couple days.
its always good to have a master liquid test kit to test the water for nitrate, nitrite, and amoinia. there should be 0 nitrites, 0 ammonia, and less than 20ppm nitrate

sits at bottom, floats at top- if hes not moving its probly the heater thing. what do you/your aunt feed him? does his belly look bloated at all?

[kk52212]

hey guys i think buddy, my fish, is feeling a little better. i replaced his water again and now he is swimming around and he looks much happier. i guess my aunt lied when she told me she had been changing his water. when i asked her before she left if she had changed it today she told me she had so i didnt even check it. i decided to though after posting and when i did it was way to cool. thanks for everything. :D


bye bye!

[kk52212]

she feeds him aqua culture betta pellet food with color-enhancing and his belly doesnt look bloated but i asked her daughter and she said that my aunt doesnt feed him every day like she sould. i am so mad that she doesn't !! i am going to have a series talk with her! but i will tell my aunt to change his water the way you said and if she doesnt i will just have to find a differnt place to keep him.

oh and he is moving much better probaly cause i put the right temperature of water in his bowl.

[stephenmontero]

whoa that could cause shock if he isnt used to 78 while that might be a good idea be careful u dont drop him from room temp to 78 with no warning its not really good for the fish

[kk52212]

maybe i exagerated a bit when talking about the temp, it was more like 72 degrees so is it ok that i did change the water? i hope so i dont want to hurt him. and i didn't completely cahnge the water i left so of the room temp water was that a good idea?